Q&A with Ron Paul from Bankrate.com
The lifelong advocate of limited government, individual liberty and fiscal responsibility refuses to vote for any bill not directly authorized by the Constitution.
For more than 40 years, the small-town obstetrician has been a major voice of opposition to big government in general and the Federal Reserve’s inflationary policies in particular. His latest book, “End the Fed,” continues his campaign to end federal fiddling with the monetary system.
His small-government platform has earned Paul a loyal following and respect from both sides of the aisle and across the generation gap. He has twice been a candidate for president, in 1988 as the Libertarian flag bearer and in 2008 as a Republican contender.
Bankrate caught up with the energetic 74-year-old doctor just minutes before he won a key House panel vote to (what else?) audit the Fed.
Bankrate: In “End the Fed,” you point out once again that the emperor, the Fed, has no clothes. Yet many Americans assume that only the Fed can lead us out of the current financial darkness and back into prosperity and light. Are they wrong?
Ron Paul: Yes, they’re wrong. The Fed got us into this mess; they can hardly solve our problems. All they’re capable of doing is inflating bubbles, creating price inflation and causing mal-investment. They cause a boom part of the cycle, but that’s only temporary, and people do feel good. But the boom part guarantees the inevitable bust part. So no, they can’t lead us out of this. Eventually, when the bubble gets so big, just printing money, and creating more spending, and keeping interest rates artificially low completely interferes with the market’s ability to correct all the mistakes.
Bankrate: You were ringside when President Nixon removed the gold standard. How did that portend our current financial quagmire?
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